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Drones are a gimmick. The threat that Islamist militants pose to pilots in Ac-130s and stealth fighters, is about the same as the threat posed to pilots who fly the remote control drones. Barring some technical failure where the plane just stops working and crashes, it's not really about the pilots.

It's about hiding the cost from the American people with the illusion of cutting edge technology.

Its your boy using them.

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Drones are a gimmick. The threat that Islamist militants pose to pilots in Ac-130s and stealth fighters, is about the same as the threat posed to pilots who fly the remote control drones. Barring some technical failure where the plane just stops working and crashes, it's not really about the pilots.

It's about hiding the cost from the American people with the illusion of cutting edge technology.

I think it's helicopter gunships that are more vulnerable than stealth fighters or AC-130s.

And no risk of drones suffering from PTSD.

As to the cost, even someone as simple as me can use a Google search to find some pertinent figures:

Under the Pentagon’s new budget plan, America’s war-time arsenal will see a drastic decrease in the number of servicemen, with the DoD instead spending money on robotic unmanned vehicles. Drone aircraft, drone submarines and drone helicopters will be added by the dozens while the US military eliminates around 100,000 positions.

The Defense Department asks Congress for $525 billion, a smaller number than the $553 billion it wanted in 2011. Cuts will come in all divisions of the Armed Forces, with the Army losing 80,000 soldiers and the Marine Corps around 20,000. The Air Force will miss nearly 100 cargo planes and the Navy will retire an arsenal of cruisers earlier than it had planned.

But as the Pentagon brings down its numbers and will save a few thousand men and women from the eventual onslaught of PTSD, it will focus its development not on bettering things for the human beings fighting America’s wars, but on a futuristic fleet of space-age weaponry. Come 2015, military pay raises will begin to stagger and, barring any unforeseen foreign involvements, the tally of troops will continue to shrink.

http://rt.com/usa/news/pentagon-budg...ry-defense-805
The makers of unmanned aerial vehicles will continue to rake in big money from drone sales even as annual U.S. and global defense budgets shrink, according to a new report from the Teal Group, a defense-analysis and consultancy shop.

“The market will double over the next decade from current worldwide UAV [research and development] and procurement expenditures of about $5.9 billion to $15.1 billion,” the report states.

Taxpayers spent $711 billion on defense in 2011 -- the equivalent of the next 13 largest defense budgets combined.

The second largest defense budget in the world that year was China's, which officially is reported at $142.9 billion -- a sixth the size of the U.S. total.

Russia's is reported at nearly $72 billion.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013...#ixzz2KZfkW0WI
The president emphasized that even after enactment of the $487 billion in reductions over 10 years that was agreed with Congress in August, the defense budget would still be larger than it was toward the end of Bush's administration.

Anyway, there's no need to worry about the use of drones in the Dorner case. Charlie Sheen is going to save the day. Yeah, like that would end well...
Charlie Sheen to Christopher Dorner, ex-LAPD officer-turned-accused cop killer: ‘Call me’

As the manhunt widens for Christopher Dorner, the former naval and LAPD officer-turned-triple-murder suspect, actor Charlie Sheen--who was mentioned in Dorner's online manifesto--released a video on Saturday pleading with the accused killer to call him.

"You mentioned me in your manifesto, so thank you for your kind words," Sheen said in the brief video posted to TMZ.com. "I am urging you to call me. Let's figure out together how to end this thing."

In the manifesto posted to his Facebook page, Dorner promised "unconventional and asymmetrical warfare" against the LAPD, which fired him in 2008. He also praised a number of celebrities, including Larry David, Bill Cosby, Jon Stewart, Kate Winslet, Ellen Degeneres, Anthony Bourdain, Michelle Obama and the former "Two and a Half Men" star. "Charlie Sheen, you’re effin awesome," Dorner wrote.

Sheen was dismissed from the CBS sitcom in 2011 after posting online rants attacking the show's creator.

Earlier this month, CNN's Anderson Cooper received a package that appears to have been sent by Dorner. In it was a hand-labeled DVD accompanied by a yellow Post-It note that read, in part, "I never lied."

Meanwhile, Los Angeles police said on Saturday they would re-examine Dorner's firing, though not "to appease a murderer," LAPD chief Charlie Beck said. "I do it to reassure the public that their police department is transparent and fair in all the things we do."

More from Reuters:

Beck called on the former officer Christopher Dorner, 33, to turn himself in and tell his side of the story. Dorner was dismissed after officials found he had made false statements accusing another officer of using excessive force.

One of the three people Dorner is accused of killing this week is the 28-year-old daughter of a retired police captain who represented him in a disciplinary action that led to his firing. He is also wanted for the killing of the young woman's fiance and an officer from the town of Riverside.

The manhunt continues for Dorner, whose burned out pickup truck was discovered last week in Big Bear Lake, a ski resort in the San Bernardino Mountains about 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles. After a door-to-door search, police believe Dorner may have slipped away.

The U.S. Border Patrol says it has stepped up security, screening vehicles to prevent Dorner from fleeing the country into Tijuana.

I think it's helicopter gunships that are more vulnerable than stealth fighters or AC-130s.

And no risk of drones suffering from PTSD.

No risk of cruise missiles suffering from PTSD either. They work just as well. The only difference is that they are stigmatized and recognized as aggression, because missiles are old technology. Drones are still the shiny new toy.

As to the cost, even someone as simple as me can use a Google search to find some pertinent figures:

I'm not talking about monetary. I'm talking about political and human. Because drones are perceived as new and invulnerable and cool, there's far less scrutiny for there use (as opposed to manned fighters). Because of this lack of scrutiny, the political cost for engaging goes down, and thus it's far more likely for us to engage more and more frequently in these bombings, until you get to where we are now. A place in which we're drone bombing like 6+ countries, and using surveillance drones over countless more. That's called mission creep.

Lack of scrutiny also results in a lower cost for error. That means more civilian deaths. That means more gross immoral actions committed, and more of a chance for blowback. In addition, lack of scrutiny means that people don't think about the cost of a bad precedent. When the technology spreads, what will our norm allow others to do, and how will it effect the world?

All of these are hidden costs that come from the scrutiny free use of Drones as a sort of fix-all.

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